it's funny that the left is often criticized by the right for being "flip-floppy" or not having a solid stance on many issues... but i think they forget that one of the BIGGEST stances of the left is open-mindedness... which means being able to see outside the box and consider all alternatives to make balanced judgements on issues by looking at all available sides and mulling over all available consequences. the right seems to take whatever sounds the best on the surface so it can start shoving it down everyone's throats.

1. kind of. you can always lie with statistics, isn't that how the saying goes? 2 MIL new jobs sounds good for last year until you hear that there were 4 MIL people entering the work force and only 1 MIL retiring. but if you include parameters (those that are convenient to your cause) you can make it impossible for the other side to fight. so let's parameterize these lies as "political lies told by the right wing 2001-2006". now it becomes impossible to make the same list for the other side.

2. it matters a lot more that these are the people nominally in charge of the country. we, as a democratic institution, need to be informed about the votes we're casting. but if the officials are lying to us, then it's doubly dangerous to democracy: we can't make an informed vote, and the people we voted for aren't being honest.

3. these people are massive hypocrites who wield morals and religion like they were weapons but lie and cheat and get away with it. it's important to expose that. unfortunately one ends up preaching to the choir, as it were, but the information needs to get out there.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I don't support the way things are being done by the Republicans, I just think a list like that is kinda sketchy since you can find someone saying just about anything if you look. If all of those were from a single religious right controlled source or something, it would be more effective imo.

I'm sick of partisan politics, and this is a prime example why. This list is ill formed. Not in the fact that these aren't things that I've heard people say, but in that it automatically discounts all of them as absolutely false without any support for said claims. That makes this column just as invalid as the contrary bullshit its indicting. There has to be SOMETHING at least slightly more constructive than complaining.

News media has become rediculous in the last ten years. Umpteen million 24 hour news channels, and no two have the same take on the same story. I'm beginning to believe that facts no longer exist. This is the problem when news becomes competition for entertainment. They win by becoming bitter and devisive. You capture one demographic through alienating another.

I'm not saying you should let other people walk all over you, I'm saying that petty squabbles such as these aren't worth ANYONE'S time. You know the saying, "Opinions are like assholes: Everyone has one and they all stink!" the maxim that everyone seems to forget is, "Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool that argues with one?"

And furthermore on partisanism: find me the man that agrees with a party's platform verbatum and I'll show you the man that wrote their party's platform.

Brian: Please, please, please listen! I've got one or two things to say.The Crowd: Tell us! Tell us both of them!Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves! You're ALL individuals!The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!Brian: You're all different!The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!Man in crowd: I'm not...The Crowd: Sch!

REG: The Romans have bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, and not just from us, from our fathers, and from our fathers' fathers.LORETTA: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.REG: Yeah.LORETTA: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.REG: Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?!XERXES: The aqueduct?REG: What?XERXES: The aqueduct.REG: Oh. Yeah, yeah. They did give us that. Uh, that's true. Yeah.COMMANDO #3: And the sanitation.LORETTA: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like?REG: Yeah. All right. I'll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done.MATTHIAS: And the roads.REG: Well, yeah. Obviously the roads. I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads--COMMANDO: Irrigation.XERXES: Medicine.COMMANDOS: Huh? Heh? Huh...COMMANDO #2: Education.COMMANDOS: Ohh...REG: Yeah, yeah. All right. Fair enough.COMMANDO #1: And the wine.COMMANDOS: Oh, yes. Yeah...FRANCIS: Yeah. Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.COMMANDO: Public baths.LORETTA: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.FRANCIS: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it. They're the only ones who could in a place like this.COMMANDOS: [LAUGHING]REG: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?XERXES: Brought peace.REG: Oh. Peace? Shut up! [bangs gavel]